Pope Francis at his general audience on Wednesday called pornography a work of the devil, and warned Christians to reject this and other temptations accessed through the internet.
“Any cell phone has access to this brutality, this language of the devil,” the pope said at the weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square Sept. 25.
While modern technology has many positive resources to appreciate, he noted, it also gives the devil an opportunity to tempt us, “and many people fall for it.”
“Think of internet pornography, which there is a thriving market behind,” he continued. “We all know the devil works there.”
Pope Francis spoke about pornography and how to avoid the temptation to sin during the 500th general audience of his pontificate.
Addressing thousands at the Vatican, he said pornography “is a very widespread phenomenon, but one that Christians must be very careful to guard against and strongly reject.”
At the Wednesday audience on the eve of a four-day trip to Luxembourg and Belgium, the pontiff spoke softly and had to pause occasionally to cough, after canceling two meetings on Monday morning due to suffering from “flu-like” symptoms, according to the Vatican.
The pope’s catechesis was the latest in a series of reflections on the Holy Spirit as a guide, and took inspiration from the beginning of the fourth chapter of Luke, when, “filled with the holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.”
“In the wilderness, Jesus freed himself of Satan, and now he can deliver from Satan,” Francis underlined, noting that by going into the wilderness Jesus was following an inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Pope Francis offered advice for avoiding sin when tempted by the devil, including not to believe in superstition or to become involved with occultism, spiritualism, astrologers, sellers of spells and amulets, and satanic sects, which are prevalent despite modern society’s denial of the existence of Satan.
He also said, when temptation hits, to ask the Virgin Mary for help, and to immediately send the devil away — “do not dialogue with the demon.”
“Be careful because the devil is clever, but we Christians, thank God, are smarter than he is,” the pope reminded.
Quoting from a Father of the Church, Saint Caesarius of Arles, Francis said, “after Christ on the cross, defeated forever the power of the ‘ruler of this world,’ the devil … ‘is bound, like a dog on a chain; he cannot bite anyone except those who, defying the danger, go near him… He can bark, he can urge, but he can bite only those who want.’”
While it is true, the pontiff continued, that the devil is present and working in extreme forms of evil and wickedness in human history, do not be discouraged.
“The final thought must be, also in this case, of trust and safety,” he said. “Christ overcame the devil and gave us the Holy Spirit to make His victory our own. The very action of the enemy can turn to our advantage, if with God’s help we make it serve our purification.”
He concluded by encouraging everyone to ask the Holy Spirit for help, using words from the hymn, “Veni Creator:”
“Drive far away our wily Foe,
And Thine abiding peace bestow;
If Thou be our protecting Guide,
No evil can our steps betide.”
This article was originally published on Catholic News Agency.
